Stoneham

Stoneham, a township of Middlesex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Pop. (1890), 6155; (1900), 6197; (1910, U.S. census), 7090. Area, 6.6 sq. m. In the township is Spot Pond, a large lake with islets, so named in 1632 by Governor John Winthrop and others who then first discovered it; it is a storage basin for the Metropolitan Water District, and supplies Medford, Melrose and Stoneham. A large part (730 acres) of the Middlesex Fells Reservation of the Metropolitan Park System is in Stoneham. The village of Stoneham, with the only post office in the township, is about 9 m. north by east of Boston, and is served by the Boston & Maine railway and by inter-urban electric lines; it has a public library. Steam power was first used in the manufacture of shoes in Stoneham by John Hill & Co., who introduced many labour-saving devices, notably the heeling machine (1862). Stoneham, long a part of Charlestown and first settled about 1668, was incorporated as a township in 1725, but its boundaries have been frequently changed since then.